It started off as a cold winter’s day; everything went as usual.  I woke up to my mom calling my name.  I had gotten ready for school and my mom made my favorite breakfast, strawberry pancakes.  My dad came home from work and brought home donuts as well.  At first, I was confused until my sister told me the date.  It was my 14th birthday.  Everybody in my family wished me happy birthday and my dad handed me my birthday gift.  I peeled the wrapper back, to find a long brown cardboard box.  I opened it up only to find a new bat.  It was white and blue, with a navy-blue writing across it. The bat that I have been wanting for months.  I was so excited to use it, but I couldn’t do so until the next day.  A few minutes later I had to leave for school .

            When I arrived at home, I had to get ready for speed and agility training.  So, I rushed to get ready and left my house.  One of the first things that we did was box jumps.  I stepped up to the black box, looked at the ground and back up at it.  It seemed like the box was as tall as a skyscraper compared to my height.  I swung my arms back and leaped onto the box.  I, instantly, felt pain course through my middle finger down to my wrist.  My finger brushed against the box making a loud crack.  I was so scared.

     I went up to my mom and said, “I can’t bend it anymore and that it hurts really bad.”  

     She replied with, “I guess we will just have to keep an eye on it.   Just try and sleep for tonight and we will take care of it in the morning; if it still hurts.”

 She took a step towards me to examine my horrifically bruised, black and blue finger.

But I could not sleep in anyway because my finger would get in the way.  The next morning, I woke up to my finger being all swollen and black and blue and even more puffy than before.  It was the most awful pain I had ever experienced.

 I still remember that entire day.  I talked to my parents, and they made me go to school for the math exam I had that day.  It was difficult to try and grip a pencil, but I did it and finished my exam.  My mom picked me up from school after my exam.  We went to urgent care, to see what was going on with my finger.  I was sitting in the waiting room anxiously, scared to hear the nurse call my name.  My palms were sweating as I tapped my foot furiously, almost as if it was going to relieve me from my pain.  I heard my name and glanced at my mom nervously.  We went in the room and waited until the doctor came in.  I told her what had happened hastily, and she put pressure on my finger.  It was awful. Then I was sent to the back to go take x-rays.  I returned to the room as the doctor went to go look at my results.  She came back to tell my that I had broken my growth plate in my middle finger.  I stood there as if I was frozen, almost as if time stood still.  My heart sank to my stomach. The doctor was talking and all I could think about was softball.  That was the only thing I could think of.  The only thing that mattered.  My mind filled with millions of questions.  How long will it take me to recover?  How will I be able to play?  What am I going to do?  I immediately started bawling my eyes out, not knowing how else to react.  I felt like a lost puppy, helpless, and terrified. 

It was difficult at first, because I had to learn to use my left hand to do everything.  In school I couldn’t write at all while I had the cast on.  I couldn’t play the game I loved, I had to sit on the sidelines while my team was playing and getting better and I wasn’t, it was awful.  At one point in time I just wanted to give up, because I couldn’t do anything for myself anymore.  Time seemed liked it was frozen and passing by slower every day. The days were taunting me.  I thought I couldn’t do it anymore.  I felt so helpless, because I couldn’t do most of my everyday routine without help. 

Over time I learned to take care of myself more without using my right hand.  I went to my practices even though I couldn’t put my mitt on or hold a bat, I decided that I could work on other things.  I did planks, and sit-ups and ladders and all kinds of other things.  It first started by doing that stuff at practice, then by doing it at home too, then almost doing it every day at home.  I began to stop thinking so negatively towards myself and worked on staying positive more.  I didn’t feel so helpless anymore.  I still remember the day I got my cast off.  I was so excited; I went straight to the field to see my teammates afterwards. It was the best feeling in the world, to be back doing the thing I loved the most.  I am so happy that I had to go through this, because it pushed me to be better, even though it didn’t seem like it at first.  My struggle made me want to do better and helped me get to where I am now.

If I could go back in time and change anything, I wouldn’t change a thing.  In result, the accident helped me grow and to overcome my hurdles that life throws at me.  This obstacle made me stronger.  Just like the saying, what doesn’t kill you can only make you stronger.  I remember when I broke my finger, I felt powerless and lost.  But having to live with this, made me stronger, more confident, and fortunate. Fortunate for breaking my finger.  Without that turning point in my life, I would never have been more determined in my life, and probably wouldn’t be the way I am today.